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grammatical number - "My wide range of abilities have/has helped"

Please consider the following: My wide range of abilities have helped my team succeed. My wide range of abilities has helped my team succeed. Microsoft Word identifies the first as a subject-verb agreement error. However, from my perspective, the "wide range" is not the subject, but rather a descriptor of the abilities. Are either of these sentences wrong, and is one preferred? Answer In such cases, ‘. . . when there are agreement options, the singular verb seems to invoke the set, whereas the plural verb makes us aware of the individual items in it’ (The Cambridge Guide to English Usage’). That leaves the choice of both available to the writer, depending on the aspect to be emphasised.

grammatical number - "The Netherlands are" vs "The Netherlands is"

When speaking about The Netherlands as a country , should it be considered as a plural or singular word? Examples: The Netherlands is a country. The Netherlands are famous for cheese and windmills. Is there a general rule for this? Do instances such as "The United States of America" and "The United Arab Emirates" follow the same rule?

prepositions - What does "I am married with three kids" mean?

Where did this come from? It sounds nasty to me (I am not a native speaker). But it seems correct. Can somebody explain this? Answer If you're talking about you and your spouse, it's not possible to be "married with " anyone; you can only be "married to " someone. Hence there is no ambiguity in saying "married with three kids", as the "with" cannot be associated with "married".

single word requests - Can "eventually" be used for the German "eventuell"?

I have a German friend who keeps saying things like, "would you eventually like to do X" and "X is eventually not a big problem." I eventually (hehe) started correcting her, saying we don't use the word "eventually" in this way, but there is something nagging in my mind that there is maybe a similar word in English that we do use. In the sense above, "eventuell" means "perhaps", "possible", "possibly". Is there word with similar etymology to "eventually" that is used in this way, or can "eventually" actually be used to refer to possibility, rather than chronology? Answer Eventual(lly) and actual(ly) are the two most common 'false friends' between English and several European languages: French, Spanish and Polish, for example, as well as German. In all these languages, 'eventual' means 'possible', and 'actual' means 'current'. This meaning is not however

grammaticality - Is this a complete sentence?

There was an ad on telly I saw, saying Relax, knowing your home is safe Is this a complete sentence that is grammatically correct? Could this go in an essay? What is the technical word for "knowing"? I know it's a verb. Would you call a present continuous verb and that's it? What about this sentence Become part of this website, exploring new worlds and games Is this an okay sentence?

word choice - Is it offensive to call people with autism "mentally disabled"?

I recently posted a post on Reddit about my app for people with autism, cerebral palsy and other diseases . Someone pointed out usage of "mental handicap" as offensive, but the comment has disappeared before I read it. Are these considered offensive? Mental handicap Mental disorder Mental disease Mentally disabled Person with special needs Mentally challenged Could you please help me? I don't want to offend anybody. What are the best/"safest" terms to use? Answer Mental handicap - offensive. (period) Mental disorder - not true of Cerebral Palsy (it affects physical movement only in a majority of cases) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_palsy . Not universally accepted as true of all autism. https://www.mencap.org.uk/learning-disability-explained/conditions/autism-and-aspergers-syndrome Mental disease - Not true of Cerebral Palsy (see above). Not universally accepted as true of all autism. Mentally disabled - Not true of Cerebral Palsy (see above). Not

punctuation - Is "et al" always accompanied by a period?

In this sentence, is it necessary to include a period with et al? This is an interesting paper, written by G. Andrews et al. Here, et al means Dr. X, Dr. Y, and Dr.Z. Does the second et al need a period? Like et al.? Answer Yes, it should always be accompanied by a period. Since et al. is the abbreviation of and others , where et al. could be an abbreviation for et alii , et aliae or et alia when referring to masculine, feminine or gender neutral groups respectively.